AP United States Government & Politics The Course: Combining a study of American government and politics with an in-depth study of an individuals rights under the Constitution. This course involves discussion, problem solving, and role playing simulations. The South Carolina Social Studies Standards will serve as a guide for the content of the course as well as material from the College Board. Students are expected to enhance their understanding of our government and politics by keeping up with current events. The Advanced Placement Program is designed for students who are preparing to earn a four-year degree beyond college. They must be willing to accept the challenge of academic expectations beyond the honors level requirements. Advanced Placement students should be advanced readers. College credit is awarded by colleges based on the level of achievement on the AP exam. Required Materials: Text Book: Bardes, Barbara A. American Government and Politics Today: 2015-2016 AP Edition. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2016 Supplemental s: Kernell, Samuel. Editor. Principle and Practice of American Politics: Classic and Contemporary s. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2000. Rossiter, Clinton. Editor. The Federalist Papers. New York: Penguin Group, 1999 Workbooks: Caliguire, Augustine. U.S. Government, Book 1: We the People. USA: The Center For Learning, 2005. Leach, Roberta J. U.S. Government, Book 2: Government for the People and by the People. USA: The Center For Learning, 2005. Contact Information: Email: aflowers@wiliston.k12.sc.us Phone: 803-266-3110 (Office) 803-266-8035 (Classroom) Website: http://www.williston.k12.sc.us/olc/teacher.aspx?s=86 Room Number and Planning Periods: Room 133, 4 th Block Planning Resources: World Wide Web Resources are located at: http://www.apcentral.collegeboard.com/ http://www.politics1.com
Grading: Daily Grades Major Grades Unit Exams 30% of yearly average (Includes homework, reaction papers, class work, and class participation) 50% of yearly average (Includes unit exams, projects, and writing assignments) 20% of yearly average (Seniors with a 90 yearly average may exempt the final exam) Attendance: Students should follow the procedures for attendance that are outlined in their handbooks. AP U.S. Government & Politics is a semester course, therefore; students are not allowed to miss more than six days. Make-up work is the responsibility of the student. All work, including tests, will expire at the end of the quarter. If the work is not made up by the expiration date, then a zero will be given as a grade. Test corrections will be allowed at the discretion of the teacher. Tardiness will not be accepted. Students should show up to class on time or they will be marked tardy unless they have a pass. Tutoring will be available to students on Thursday afternoons from 3:00-4:00 pm. Classroom Rules: 1. Follow all instructions given by the teacher. 2. Students are to be seated in their desks when the bell rings and to begin on work given by the teacher. 3. Bring all required materials to class everyday. 4. Remain respectful at all times. 5. Make-up work is the responsibility of the student and will not be discussed during class. 6. At the end of the class, students are to remain seated until they are dismissed by the teacher.
Course Timeline-Approximate timeline of covered topics. Teacher reserves the right to deviate from the timeline if necessary. Unit Unit 1-Chapters: 1-3 Unit 2-Chapters: 4-5 Subtopics Basics of Government, The Constituion, Federalism Civil Liberties, Civil Rights Unit 3-Chapters: 6-11 Unit 4-Chapters:12-14 Unit 5-Chapters: 15-18 Public Opinion and Public Socialization, Interest Groups, Political Parties, Campaigns and Elections, The Media and Cyberpolitics. The Congress, The Presidency, The Bureaucracy, The Judicial System Domestic and Economic Policy, Foreign and Defense Policy, State and Local Governments
Learning and Developmental Goals Overall Course Goals-Students will be able to: 1. Know important facts, concepts, and theories pertaining to U.S. government and politics. 2. Understand typical patterns of political processes and behavior and their consequences (including the components of political behavior, the principles used to explain or justify various government structures and procedures). 3. Be able to analyze and interpret basic data relevant to U.S. government and politics. *Course goals taken from the AP Government Handbook distributed by the College Board. Learning goals for individual units: Unit 1-Students will be able to: 1. Explain ideas of politics using the concepts of change and stability. 2. Understand the definition of politics. 3. Define attributes of governmental institutions. 4. Understand how compliance relates to power. 5. Describe the different forms of government. 6. Explain the key features of democracies. 7. Describe the competing theories of how the U.S. democracy works. 8. Define political culture and describe the process of political socialization. 9. Describe the importance of liberty, equality, and property in American political culture. 10. Explain how changing demographics affect American political culture, and different priorities. 11. Define the concept of ideology and explain the dominant ideologies in the U.S. 12. Explain the development of colonies and more need for government. 13. Trace the events and circumstances that led to the Revolutionary War. 14. Summarize the events leading to the calling of the Constitutional Convention. 15. Explain the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. 16. Explain the compromises reached in the Congress, including the Virginia and New Jersey Plans. 17. Describe the informal ways in which Congress, the President, and the courts can change the Constitution. 18. Define the three ways of ordering relations between a central government and local governments. 19. Describe the historical arguments for and against federalism in the United States. 20. Identify and explain the classification of powers between the national and state governments in the United States federal system. 21. Explain the supremacy doctrine. 22. Explain horizontal federalism. 23. Explain the Constitutional questions posed in McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden and describe the Supreme Court s findings as they relate to federalism. 24. Explain the tools of cooperative federalism, including grants-in-aid and block grants. 25. Describe the impact of federal mandates on state and local governments. Unit 2-Students will be able to: 1. Understand the historical context for the importance of the Bill of Rights within the Constitution. 2. Understand the significance of the 14 th Amendment, Gitlow v. New York and the incorporation issue in nationalizing the Bill of Rights. 3. Identify the Constitutional basis for freedom of religion and describe recent Supreme Court ruling on freedom of religion. 4. Identify the different types of speech the Supreme Court has defined, and the historical tests that have been applied to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. 5. Explain the rulings regarding freedom of the press, including prior restraint. 6. Identify the Constitutional concepts in the development of the right to privacy. 7. Identify the civil liberties pertaining to criminal rights, including limitations on police conduct, defendant s pretrial rights and defendant s trial rights.
8. Describe the expansion of civil rights through legislation and amendments to the Constitution in the post-civil War period. 9. Explain the impact that the Supreme Court s decision in Brown v. BOE had on education. 10. Describe the impact of the end of separate but equal doctrine. 11. Describe the obstacles to political participation by African Americans. 12. Describe the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 13. Explain the difference between de facto and de jure segregation. 14. Analyze some of the early struggles for equal rights by women and the modern women s movement. 15. Explain why affirmative action policies were originally established, and how the Supreme Court has placed limitations on affirmative action. 16. Describe the Bakke case and other limitations on affirmative action. 17. Describe the debate over bilingual education, including the two different arguments against it. 18. Explain the primary forms of age discrimination, and the impact of strong levels of participation for older Americans. 19. Describe the forms of discrimination against people with disabilities. 20. Identify the key components of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 21. Describe the politicization of gay rights activist in the U.S. 22. Describe efforts by gay men and lesbians to secure gay rights. 23. Explain the legal status of juveniles, especially with regard to voting rights and civil and criminal rights. Unit 3-Students will be able to: 1. Define public opinion, and explain its uses by policy-makers and interests groups. 2. Describe consensus opinion, divisive opinion and non-opinion. 3. Describe the flaws of early opinion polls. 4. Describe current sampling techniques, including random sampling and quota sampling. 5. Explain how public opinions formed in the United States, including political socialization by families, education and peers and the influence of religion, economic status, political events, and opinion leaders. 6. Describe the impact of technology and the media of socialization. 7. Describe the impact of demographic traits including race and gender on public opinion. 8. Describe the trends in public opinion regarding trust in government and confidence in institutions. 9. Define interest group and describe their functions. 10. Describe why people participate in interest groups. 11. Identify the major categories on interest groups and their representatives in the business, agricultural, labor, and public employee sectors. 12. Describe professional interest groups, public interest pressure groups, single-interest groups, environmental groups and how foreign governments act as interest groups. 13. Identify the direct tactics used by interest groups, including lobbying, rating systems, campaign assistance and the formations of PACs. 14. Identify the indirect tactics used by interest groups, including public pressure, using constituents as lobbyists and alliance building. 15. Describe efforts to regulate interest group activity. 16. Distinguish between a political party, interest group and faction. 17. Describe the evolution of political party development within the U.S. including the formative years, the era of personal politics, national two-party rule, the post Civil War period, the Progressive movement, and the modern era. 18. Describe the different constituent orientations of the Republican and Democrat parties. 19. Describe the three faces of a political. 20. Identify the national and state political party structure and organization. 21. Describe the reasons for a two-party system. 22. Identify the obstacles faced by third parties. 23. Identify emerging trends in political party preference by the electorate.
Unit 4-Students will be able to: 1. Explain the major functions of Congress, including lawmaking, constituent service, oversight and conflict resolution. 2. Compare the basic differences between the House of Representatives and the Senate. 3. Explain gerrymandering. 4. Explain the types of committees in Congress and what impact committees have on the legislative process. 5. Identify the leadership positions in Congress. 6. Explain how a bill becomes a law. 7. Explain how the federal budget is developed and the roles played by the OMB and the CBO. 8. Identify and explain two current views concerning the status of presidential power. 9. Identify and explain the roles of the President. 10. Identify and explain the sources of presidential power. 11. Describe the organization of the executive branch and the organization has changed over time. 12. Discuss the evolving role of the vice president as an advisor and successor to the president. 13. Describe the Twenty-fifth Amendment and discuss potential problems associated with it. 14. Recognize the impact of the bureaucracy upon presidential initiatives. 15. Identify the types of governmental organizations in the federal bureaucracy and distinguish between functions and responsibilities. 16. Identify the legislation controlling political activity by the bureaucracy. 17. Explain Congressional control on bureaucracies, including enabling legislations and budgetary authorization. 18. Identify the recent reforms within the federal civil service. 19. Explain the iron triangle model of bureaucracy and the role of executive agencies, subcommittees and interest groups. 20. Explain the major concepts of the American legal system that were developed in the English common law system including the common law tradition, precedent, jurisdiction and stare decisis. 21. Outline the federal court system and explain the major function of each court. 22. Identify and explain the different type of opinions that are delivered by justices of the Supreme Court. 23. Summarize the presidential appointment process for all levels of federal courts including nominating candidates, their common qualifications, the role of senatorial courtesy; and how ideology has played an important role in the politics of appointments. 24. Explain the policymaking function of the courts. Unit 5-Students will be able to: 1. Describe the policy making process. 2. Describe the history of the problem of crime in American society. 3. Explain what factors are involved in the concept of poverty. 4. Describe governmental efforts to reduce poverty, and describe the Welfare Reform Act. 5. Explain the Clean Air Act of 1990. 6. Explain the concept of policy trade-offs. 7. Describe the politics surrounding both the creation of taxes and subsidies, and explain the concepts of policy trade-offs and action-reaction syndrome. 8. Define a tax loop-hole. 9. Describe the difference between fiscal policy and monetary policy. 10. Explain Keynesian economics. 11. Describe the Federal Reserve System. 12. Define foreign policy and describe the process for developing foreign policy and the tools for implementing it. 13. Describe the two competing perspectives of viewing foreign policy. 14. Describe the formal and informal powers of the president to make foreign policy. 15. Identify the principal agencies that assist the president in developing foreign policy. 16. Trace the stages of U.S. foreign policy throughout its history.
17. Describe the impact of issues such as nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and the global economy on foreign policy. 18. Describe in general terms the differences between the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions, and the reasons for these differences. 19. Explain the veto and line item veto power of state executives. 20. Explain the tools of direct democracy. 21. Explain the various units of local governments. 22. Describe how state and local governments raise revenue through general sales tax and property tax. 23. Explain what services are provided with this revenue, including education and public welfare. I have aligned these goals with the following required sources: South Carolina Process Standards and College Board AP Government Standards.
Chapter Assignments Chapter Subtopics Chapter One-One Evolution of Politics, pp. 1-34 Republic: Two Authority and Americas Legitimacy, Sources of Political Power, Direct Democracy, Representative Democracy, Political Socialization, Changing Face of America, Political Ideology Two-The Constitution Three-Federalism Colonizing Efforts, British Restrictions and Colonial Greievances, Colonial Response, Declaring Independence, Rise of Republicanism, Articles of Confederation, Drafting the Constitution, U.S. Government Influences, Ratification of the Constitution, Bill of Rigths, Formal and Informal Amendment Process Unitary System, Confederal System, Federal System, Why Federalism?, Constituional basis for Federalism, McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons, v. Ogden, Civil War, Dual Federalism, Cooperative Federalism, Federal Grants-in-Aid, Federalism and the Supreme Court pp. 35-68 The Constitution of the U.S.A pp. 644-659 pp. 69-103 Workbook U.S. Government Book 1 pp. 5-7 Government: Should It Be Limited or Absolute? U.S Government Book 1 pp. 12-16 Colonial Unrest, In Support of Change U.S. Government Book 1 pp. 20-30 Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist Supplemtnal None The Federalist Papers, #10 The Federalist Papers, #51
Chapter Subtopics Chapter Workbook Supplemtnal Four-Civil Liberties 14th Amendment, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of the Press, Right to Assemble and to Petition, Privacy Rights, Rights of the Acused vs. the Rights of the Society pp. 104-147 None None Five-Civil Rights: Equal Protection Six-Civil Rights: Beyond Equal Protection African Americans and the Consequences of Slavery in the U.S., Civil Rights Movement, Modern Civil Rights Legislation, Immigration and the Civil Rights Agenda, Women s Rights, Gender Based Discrimination in the Workplace Affirmative Action, Bakke Case, Bilingual Education, Protection for Older Americans, Protections for those with Disabilities, Rights of Juveniles pp. 148-183 None Princples and Practices of American Politics pp. 153-164 Desegregation is Dead by Megan Twohey (Rection Paper) pp. 183-200 None Princples and Practices of American Politics pp. 135-152 Understanding White s Resistance to Affirmative Action by Laura Stoker
Chapter Subtopics Chapter Twelve-Congress Why Congress was pp. 379-417 (Legislative created, Enumerated Brach) Powers, Necessary and Proper Clause, Functions of Congress, House-Senate Differences, Congressional Elections, Congressional Reapportionment, Pay, Perks, and Privileges, Congressional Committees, Formal Leadership in Congress, How a Bill Becomes a Law, Congress and the Budget Thirteen-The Presidency (Executive Branch) Fourteen-The Bureaucracy Presidential Qualifications, Process of Becoming President, Roles of the President, Presidential Powers, Abuse of Power Executive Organization, Vice Presidency Public and Private Bureaucracies, Models of Bureaucracy, Size of Bureaucracy, Organization of Bureaucracy, Staffing the Bureaucracy, Sunshine Laws, Sunset Laws, Privatization, Production Incentives, Whistleblowers, Bureaucrats as Politicians and Policymakers, Congressional Control of the Bureaucracy pp. 418-453 pp. 454-486 Workbook U.S. Government Book 1 pp. 141-142 The House of Representatives and Senate p. 156 How a Bill Becomes a Law U.S Government Book 1 pp. 177-178 The Roles of the President pp. 198-199 Responsibilities of the Executive Department U.S. Government Book 1 pp. 235-236 Discrimination and Democracy in Bureaucracy Supplemental Princples and Practices of American Politics pp. 245-271 The Senate in Bicameral Perspective by Richard F. Fenno Jr. The Federalist Papers # s 67 and 68 None
Chapter Subtopics Chapter s Fifteen-The Common Law pp. 487-517 Judiciary (Judicial Tradition, Sources of Branch) American Law, Federal Court System, Supreme Court, Selection of Federal Judges, Policy Making and the Courts, Judicial Review, Judicial Activism and Restraint, Checks on the Court Seven-Public Opinion and Political Socialization Eight-Interest Groups Nine-Political Parties Defining Public Opinion, Measuring Public Opinion, Technology and Opinion Polls, Political Socialization, Political Opinion and the Political Process Interest Groups and Social Movements, Number of Groups, Solidary Incentives, Material Incentives, Purposive Incentives, Types of Interest Groups, What makes an Interest Group Powerful, Interest Group Strategies, Interest Groups and Campaign Money, Regulating Lobbyists, Interest Groups and Representative Democracy, Iron Triangles What is a Political Party, Functions of Political Parties, History of Political Parties in the U.S. Pig- Pie-Poe, Two-Party System, Minor Parties, Party Identification Workbook U.S. Government Book 1 pp. 209-210 The Structure of the Federal Court System pp. 216-217 Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824 Supplemental s Federalist Papers #78 pp. 201-231 None Princples and Practices of American Politics pp. 503-534 Analyzing and Interpreting Polls by Herbert Asher pp. 232-263 U.S Government Book 2 pp. 141-142 The Role of Special Interest Groups p. 147 Investigate a Lobby Group Princples and Practices of American Politics pp. 718-740 The Money Cutlure by Elizabeth Drew pp. 264-300 None Princples and Practices of American Politics pp. 624-637 Why Parties by John H. Aldrich
Chapter Subtopics Chapter Ten-Campaigns, The People Who Run pp. 301-345 Nominations, and for Office, Modern Elections Campaign Machine, Strategy for Winning, Financing the Campaign, Regulating Campaign Financing, Running for President, Electoral College, How Elections are Conducted, Voting in National, State, and Local Elections, Legal Restrictions on Voting, How do voters decide Eleven-The Media and Cyberpolitics Functions of the Media, History of the Media in the U.S., Impact of Television, Media and Campaigns, Media and Government, Government Regulation of Media, Public s Right to Media Access, Media Bias Workbook U.S. Government Book 1 p. 251 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act pp. 252-256 Raising Money is Easy: Winning an Election is Hard (Graph Interpretation) Supplemental None pp. 346-378 None Select a current event issue that is reported on by two different print media outlets. Explain the differences in how the issue is presented to the public.
Chapter Subtopics Chapter Sixteen-Domestic Policymaking Process, pp. 518-578 and Economic Poverty and Welfare, Policy Crime in the 21 st Century, Environmental Policy, Taxes, Social Security, Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Budget Deficits and Public Debt, America and the Global Economy Seventeen-Foreign and Defense Policy Eighteen-State and Local Governments National Security Policy, Diplomacy, Moral Idealism, Political Realism, Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation, Global Economy, Regional Conflicts, Foreign Policy, Majory U.S Foreign Policy Themes U.S. Constitution and State Governments, State Constitutions, Three Branches of State Governments, How Local Governments Operate, Paying for State and Local Governments. Workbook U.S. Government Book 1 pp. 259-261 The Federal Budget: Head Start, A Case Study pp. 268-2q69 The Steady Growth of the Welfare State (Graph Interpretation) pp. 579-612 None None pp. 613-641 U.S. Government, Book 2 p. 171 Understanding State Government pp. 185-186 The Functions of Local Government, City and County Concerns Supplemental None None
Writing Assignments Analytical Free Response Questions Student writing is a very big component of the Advance Placement process. Due to this, at least every other week, students will be given College Board analytical FRQs (free response questions) to be completed at home. Students will receive one week to complete the questions. These questions will prepare you for the free response section of the AP U.S. Government and Politics Exam. Reaction Papers As noted above in the syllabus, students are assigned reaction papers based on the supplemental readings. In these reaction papers, students should not merely give a brief summary of the reading. As the student, you should express how the reading has impacted your understanding of American government and how it correlates to the issues being studied. Current Events Students are responsible for keeping up with the daily events in the nation and the world. Students will need to skim the front page of newspapers such as The State, The Augusta Chronicle, the Washington Post or Washington Times, listen to NPR or another radio news program, watch a TV news station such as CNN or Fox News, or access a reliable online source. At the end of each week, students will be chosen at random to report information found and correlate it to issues being studied in class. All students are expected to keep a short journal of their current event findings in thoughts for every week. Cartoon Assignments Every week as an in-class assignment, students will be given political cartoons from current newspapers and news magazines to analyze and interpret what messages the cartoonist is trying to convey to the reader. Students should use the following guidelines from the AP Central website to help analyze the cartoons: What do you see? Describe the elements that are present in your cartoon: symbols, historical images, stereotypes, captions, humor, caricature. If caricature, is the cartoonist using extreme features and distorted images? Describe them. What is happening in the cartoon? Are the components of the cartoon related to each other? If so, how? Explain what you think the cartoonist is trying to say. What does the cartoon mean? Can you think of another setting, period, or person in time to which this cartoon could apply? Explain. Supreme Court Cases The Supreme Court has played a vital role in shaping United States government and politics. Due to this fact, it is important for students to have a complete understanding of the many cases that are covered in this course. As we cover each case, students need to keep a case log that should include the important facts and consequences of each case in a case log. Students can use the following web addresses to help them compile their case log: http://www.landmarkcases.org/ http://www.whc.net/irish/government/ap/cases.htm
Unit Writing Questions As a short writing exercise, students are expected to answer the following questions for each unit and turn in the day of the unit exam. Unit One 1. What did the U.S. Constitution include on the issue of slavery, and why did it fail to outlaw the practice? 2. Compare and contrast direct democracy to representative democracy. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? In what situations might a direct democracy work? When is a representative democracy more feasible? 3. Compare and contrast the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan, and show how they led to the Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise). 4. Compare and Contrast the concepts of Dual Federalism and Cooperative Federalism. 5. Explain what is meant by the idea of federalism and its importance for American politics. Describe at least three ways that federalism is evident in American political life. Unit Two 1. Explain the controversy over bilingual education programs. 2. Describe some of the tactics used to prevent African Americans from voting in the South in years past. 3. When is the government able to interfere with freedom of speech? 4. Over the years, the United States has experienced several different waves of immigration. Today, Hispanics make up a large portion of immigrants to American. What will be their impact on civil rights as they have the potential to be the largest minority in the country? How can their plight compare to that of past minority groups? Unit Three 1. Explain the concept of generational effect and how you think it might apply to use as your grow older. 2. An economic protest party is an example of a type of minor party. Identify and describe the other three types of minor parties and give an example of each. 3. Describe the incentives for joining an interest group. 4. It is said that the relationship between the government and the media is reciprocal-that they both need each other. What factors influence the nature of the relationship between government officials and the media? Does one type of media (broadcast or print) have an advantage in its relationship with the government? If so, explain why.
Unit Four 1. Congressional seat, at least until the 1990 s, were becoming safer, meaning more incumbents were winning reelection. Provide three explanations for this phenomenon. 2. What is meant by the president s role as party chief and super politician? 3. Explain what the iron triangle model is and what impact it has on the operation of the U.S. government. 4. List and explain the six functions of Congress. 5. Montesquieu wrote that There would be an end of everything, were the same man, or the same body, to exercise executive, legislative, and judicial power. Explain fully the separation of powers, including the system of checks and balances, and how those constitutional structures protect our liberty? Unit Five 1. Explain the forms of direct democracy that exist at the state and local levels. 2. Describe the different ways state and local governments raise revenue. 3. What would be the impact school choice would have on the public school system and state governments? 4. Compare and contrast the different local government management plans.